bell peppers | Jenna's Everything Blog

This was our recipe of choice for Family Vacay 2010, and the photographs below were taken during that marvelous week. My husband and I were in charge of feeding a dozen people Thursday night, and this dish was the obvious pick. It’s an adapted version of a dish served at Yat’s, a Cajun restaurant in Bloomington. This recipe makes such a large pot that there were ample leftovers the next day–I estimate the batch we made would have fed about 16 people; the recipe below is for 8-10 so that you don’t have Etouffée coming out of your ears. Before you start cutting down the recipe even more though, please consider this: it’s so amazing that even if you’re just feeding 2 or 3, you can freeze the rest and thus ensure that when the craving hits you again (and it will hit you hard) it is immediately on hand.

This is probably the most delicious recipe on this blog to date. The Mush is really good . . . the caramelized salmon is also superb . . . but this recipe is crowd-friendly and I guarantee everyone will love it. Unless they’re lactose and gluten intolerant, in which case you need to make a separate little stirfry for them.

Poor Luke. I hope he doesn’t know what he’s missing.

This recipe is so good that:

1. My 14-year-old cousin Brianna adored it. She normally only eats Chicken Noodle Soup and string cheese, so this is saying a lot.

2. Both my sister Heidi and I had this dish served at our weddings. Yup.

Before we jump in, let’s get in the mood for a hot stew-like concoction by examining pictures of the rainy day on the lake.

I deserted any pretense of subtlety and electrified the blue in this water using a fun tool in Photoshop: “Selective Color.” If you own Photoshop but haven’t used it, get with the plan, Stan.

Mmmm, I’m getting hungrier by the minute.

One more explanation and then I promise we’ll get to the good stuff. The step-by-step pictures. You see, I had just changed my lens to my zoom lens in order to capture the raindrops on the lake from a safe distance. Then I came back to the main house to cook. If you remember the post about our lodgings during Family Vacay 2010 (click here to read), you’ll recall that I was staying in a separate smaller cabin, where my other lens was housed. And I was not going back out into the rain to change that lens, golldarnheckanannywhillikins. Therefore, all these pictures were taken with a zoom lens that required me to be very far away from the pot I was attempting to photograph, which proved to be quite awkward. Do I regret my choice? If I say yes, my Mom might say “I told you so,” so I’ll stick by it. But that’s why the pictures are a little . . . a little not so awesome. But the food was!

Now that I’ve got you on board with how amazing this is going to be, let’s begin. There is a long list of ingredients, but most of that list is just composed of spices, plus you really just toss everything into a pot anyway. It’s not difficult—please trust me. To prove this I will walk you through it step by step.

Ingredients

(Serves 8-10)

1 1/2 sticks butter

3/4 cups flour

1 bunch chopped green onions

2 stalks celery

1 large onion

1 red bell pepper

1 green bell pepper (I added a yellow one too)

6 cloves garlic

1-14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

½ tsp dried thyme

1 TBS tomato paste

1 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp white pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp chili powder

Pinch ground coriander

Pinch ground cumin

Pinch ground cloves

Dash Worcestershire sauceDash Tabasco sauce

1/4 c dry sherry

3 cups chicken stock

3 cups shredded aged cheddar

8 oz heavy whipping cream

4 chicken breasts

Cooked white rice, to serve

First, chop all your stuff: the celery, peppers, onions, and garlic. You can chop up your chicken now as well if you feel like it, though it doesn’t go in until the end.

Shred your aged cheddar–please make the extra investment and buy some good quality aged cheddar, because this is a key flavor and I promise it will make a big difference.

Melt the butter in a large, large pot. When it’s melted, add the flour. Don’t be like me and take a hideous blurry picture because you’re too lazy to change your lens.

Stir over medium heat to create what’s called a roux. Keep it cooking until it gets to be a golden brown and releases a nutty scent. This took me about 10 minutes. Check out the change in color from the pale yellow above to the rich golden hue below:

Add the chopped green onions, onion, garlic, bell peppers, and celery.

And we’re done! Doesn’t it look appetizing?

Just kidding! Cook those veggies about 6 minutes, until softened.

Add the tomato paste and all the spices. Cook for another few minutes, stirring to combine.

Add the can of diced tomatoes. Cook for another few minutes.

Add the Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce, dry sherry, and chicken stock.

Bring ‘er to a boil, then lower the heat and let it simmer for a good 30 minutes. It should thicken a good bit–that’s the magic of the roux happening.

Add the cheese, heavy whipping cream, and chicken. Simmer over low heat until the chicken is cooked through, about 6-7 minutes.

Mmmm. . . raw chicken floating in a stew pot. Give ‘er a stir and submerge that pink uncooked flesh, for the sake of decency.

If it’s not quite thick enough, create a cornstarch/water slurry and add that in. Or add more cheese. Or something. Looks about ready to me . . .

Serve it over white rice, and garnish with green onions and an extra drizzle of dry sherry. I guarantee you will go back for more.

Enjoy!

The pieces of chicken are soooo tender . . . sooo flavorful . . .

Now you just have to get a wonderful father and hot husband to do the dishes, and your evening will have been perfection.

Click here for printer-friendly version: Chili-Cheese Etouffée

This is so simple to throw together—please don’t be dismayed by the ingredient list. A little chopping, a little mixing, a little wok-action, and you’ve got a delicious, colorful, fresh meal for the clamoring masses.

A couple words of wisdom that apply to all stirfries:

-Do all your chopping and sauce-mixing beforehand, because once you start up the wok it comes together quickly.

-Always cook over high heat. It’s the way God designed Chinese food. Don’t go against his plan!

-Fry the meat in 2 or more batches, and wait until the oil is hot before putting it in. If you put in too much meat at once, it will crowd the pan and turn into a liquidy bubbly thing that will steam-cook instead of frying. Believe me—that happened my whole first year of stirfrying. I was too lazy, and I should probably issue an official apology to anyone who consumed those tough, colorless pieces of animal flesh.

-Be creative! Any stirfry maker will tell you that it’s extremely easy to switch up the ingredients. You can use this basic marinade with any meat, you can add any sauce (plum sauce, chili sauce, black bean sauce, etc.), and any veggies.

Ingredients

MARINADE

2 TBS soy sauce

2 TBS water

1 tsp rice wine vinegar

1 tsp sugar

2 TBS Shaoxing wine or dry sherry

1 tsp sesame oil

Dash white pepper

SAUCE

3 TBS hoisin sauce (heaping)

1 TBS oyster sauce

1 TBS honey

2 TBS Shaoxing wine or dry sherry

1/3 c chicken stock

2 tsp corn starch

1/4 tsp five spice

2 tsp soy sauce

STIRFRY

2 TBS peanut oil, divided

3 chicken breasts (1.25 lbs)

1/2 tsp five spice, divided

1/4 tsp black pepper, divided

4 tsp honey, divided

1 large white onion

1 TBS diced ginger

4 cloves garlic

1 red pepper

1 yellow squash (summer squash)

1 zucchini

1 bunch green onions

1/2 tsp salt

White rice or noodles, to serve

Start by cutting the chicken into thin strips or small cubes. I went the thin strips route.

Place it in the marinade for 15-20 minutes.

Now, grab your fresh stuff:

Mince your ginger and garlic and set them aside in a little bowl. Dice your veggies and set them aside in another bowl. Mix the sauce and chop your green onions. Everything should be ready before the frying begins.

Here we have (clockwise from top left): a bowl of chopped veggies; a bowl of marinating chicken; the sauce; a ramekin of ginger and garlic; a ramekin of green onions. Aaaah. I love order.

Heat 1 TBS of peanut oil in a wok or very large skillet. When it starts smoking, add half of the chicken (drain with a slotted spoon so the marinade stays behind for the most part). It will spatter–so be ready!

Add 2 tsp of honey, 1/8 tsp black pepper and 1/4 tsp of five spice to the chicken and fry over high heat for about 5 minutes.

The honey will start to caramelize, giving your chicken a lovely dark brown crust.

After 5 minutes, remove. Heat the remaining oil for the rest of the chicken and repeat the process, removing the chicken and setting it aside.

Add your ginger and garlic to the hot wok and fry for no more than 60 seconds, stirring constantly so the garlic doesn’t burn.

Add your veggies and your salt. It’s very important to salt the veggies, because that way the seasoning will adhere before the sauce comes into play. Cook for 4 minutes over high heat, stirring.